Chapter 195

Yanggu fell in less than two days, cutting off the nearest route by which the Jin forces might theoretically come to their aid. None of this was yet known to Kong Yanzhou and Liu Lin... or rather, they didn't even know that some lord had gone to Yanggu, nor did they care to know.

For the two men, who had set up their camp in the wilderness north of Pingyin on the southeast side of the Ji River, they were simply fighting hard and earnestly, doing their utmost to lull Zhang Rong across from them into complacency while waiting for the so-called Li Cheng's fatal blow.

Yet suddenly, Li Cheng did come—but not from behind Zhang Rong. Instead, he brushed past from the opposite bank of the Ji River without stopping, and never returned.

In truth, by that time, Kong Yanzhou and Liu Lin, with their military acumen, had already grown wary. Kong Yanzhou had even ordered the frontline troops to withdraw from the engagement zone to concentrate their forces. But no amount of vigilance could withstand the fact that no sooner had Li Cheng passed by from the northwest side of the Ji River than Yue Fei's troops poured out densely from Mount Tai to the east, directly blocking their path.

Such was the situation—irreversible.

And since it was irreversible, each man had to seek his own way out.

Yet in this, Kong Yanzhou and Liu Lin were somewhat different:

Liu Lin was the puppet Crown Prince. He knew that once he fell into Song Jun's hands, death was the only outcome... Even if the Emperor in the Eastern Capital truly didn't care about him, as rumored, the civil and military officials of Zhao Song would never spare his life.

Therefore, without any hesitation, aware of the critical danger, he immediately set about gathering his troops, rewarding the soldiers, promising ranks and rewards, clearly preparing to stake everything on one desperate gamble.

As for Kong Yanzhou, seeing the situation deteriorate, he actually sent an envoy to Yue Fei's camp, trying to seek some resolution.

This move of his seemed, on the surface, to make some sense.

First, to repeat the old cliché, both this Marshal Kong and that Governor Li were essentially Hebei military bandits turned warlords who had drifted into Jingdong. And if Li Cheng still harbored some passable ambition, then Kong Yanzhou acted purely for personal wealth and pleasure. He had been lured over by Liu Yu's promises of official rank, treasure, and the chance to carve out Yanzhou as his own domain; today, to save his skin by defecting from Qi, he naturally felt no burden.

Second, although he had no deep friendship with Yue Fei—in fact, back in their hometown, one was a rogue and the other an archer, never of the same ilk—they were still fellow townsmen, so he could always find a suitable person to pass along his words.

Third, Yue Fei's march here via the Wen River over Mount Tai and its surrounding hills had effectively cut off Kong Yanzhou's lair in Yanzhou. Thus, even if he managed to escape this time, it would be very difficult for him to hold onto Yanzhou. This was somewhat hard for Marshal Kong, who had only recently enjoyed a few days of wealthy living, to accept.

But people's thoughts, even their worldviews and values, are vastly different. When Kong Yanzhou's surrender petition was delivered, Yue Fei didn't even have the desire to rebuke him... because for him, Kong Yanzhou was precisely someone who must be eliminated this time!

One must understand that it was this very fellow townsman whose sudden betrayal had caused the situation in Jingdong to collapse, directly leading to Zhang Suo's martyrdom in Nanjing. So, dare I ask, as a subordinate, shouldn't he, Yue Pengju, avenge his benefactor?

Moreover, it was also this same scoundrel who, in Yanzhou, used the pretext of being a fellow townsman to lure countless Hebei refugees, then coerced them into surrendering to Qi. Among them, Xu Qing and several thousand sons of Xiangzhou had come bearing heavy burdens, only to flee in disgrace, and before they could cleanse their sullied reputations, they hastily died as martyrs beneath Changshe's walls. So, dare I ask, as a superior, shouldn't he, Yue Pengju, erase the regrets of his subordinates before their deaths?

Not to mention that in these past few days, as Yue Fei turned from Mount Tai, he had refrained from large-scale plundering elsewhere to avoid revealing his movements—that was understandable. But Fengfu, a key point, had to be taken first. And after breaking Fengfu, Yue Pengju learned of his fellow townsman's deeds in Yanzhou... It turned out that after Kong Yanzhou surrendered to Qi and became the local tyrant of Yanzhou, his moral decay was astonishingly rapid.

To mention nothing else, according to the accounts of surrendered men who had witnessed it firsthand in Fengfu, Marshal Kong now required twenty or thirty young and pretty maidservants just for a normal meal at his residence... For what?

To hold the dishes—just to hold the dishes.

And besides that, things like coveting some beautiful woman and driving her family to ruin, forcing local officials to collect taxes decades in advance, and systematically imprisoning and squeezing local wealthy merchants—these seemed almost commonplace by comparison.

Could Yue Fei let such a man return to Yanzhou?

"It's not impossible."

Inside the hastily erected tent, the Grand Marshal of the Court, Commander of the Imperial Forward Army Yue Pengju, listened calmly as the envoy finished speaking in their hometown dialect. "But in the past, he switched sides mid-battle, causing Grand Coordinator Zhang's great defeat. Grand Coordinator Zhang is now right across from us, and it would be hard to explain. Moreover, the court up and down harbors much resentment over his surrender to Qi. If he wishes to return to Yanzhou this time, he must render a monumental service... Capture Liu Lin and bring him before me, and then we'll talk about Yanzhou, how about it?"

The envoy assented meekly, showing no surprise, and agreed readily before withdrawing.

Once the envoy left, others sensed something amiss but held their tongues. Only Li Zhang, known as Pugongdiao, a straightforward man, asked on the spot: "Grand Marshal, do you truly intend to let him go?"

Yue Fei was equally blunt, sitting in place and replying coldly: "Just a trick to deceive him. If a few words can stir up internal strife among them, wouldn't that save a tremendous amount of effort? And also reduce our losses... Whether it works or not, we'll proceed as usual, be prepared, meet soldiers with soldiers and water with earth, and when the time comes, we'll attack."

Li Zhang and the other rough-and-ready generals came to their senses, and most of the other generals in the tent showed the same understanding.

Leaving aside Yue Fei's firm resolve and preparations for a general offensive, on the other side, Kong Yanzhou, having received the news in his own tent, hadn't yet taken any action when he received an invitation from Liu Lin. Without any hesitation, he led about eighty to a hundred personal guards through the summer heat straight to the other's tent.

By noon, the weather grew increasingly oppressive and sultry, seeming to portend another summer rain. When the two young and promising generals of Jingdong met, perhaps because they were at a life-or-death juncture, they were surprisingly candid with each other.

"Marshal!"

After they sat down across the table and were served melons that had been stored in a deep well, Liu Lin cupped his hands and asked impatiently: "I heard you sent an envoy to Yue Fei's camp. What was your intention? And what was the result? Do you, Marshal, think Yue Fei can still tolerate you? In the current situation, even if he promises you something, it's only to deceive you."

"He did promise me, but I'm only deceiving him in return. Don't overthink it, Your Highness." Kong Yanzhou casually drew his saber, cut into a melon on the table, and as the juice flowed, he pushed a piece over to the other. "Back then, I switched sides, directly causing Zhang Suo's death, and then held Nanjing for several months. Plus, Zhang Rong hates my guts. Why would Yue Fei tolerate me, just because I'm his fellow townsman? It's just that the situation has reached a point where it can't get any worse. I'm treating a dead horse as if it were alive, just trying to deceive him..."

"How do you plan to deceive him?" Liu Lin didn't eat the melon, but his interest was piqued.

"Think about it, Your Highness. Whether it's true or false, since he promised me, I can at least buy half a day to gather my troops, right? Then I might even be able to swagger forward a few li. And if, when we reach his camp, Yue Fei still harbors the idea of disposing of me without a fight..." At this point, Kong Yanzhou took a bite of the crisp melon, juice spilling from the corner of his mouth, and grinned fiercely. "I'll make him know what it means to lose Jingzhou through carelessness, as the story goes."

Liu Lin realized that the other intended to use the opportunity of feigned surrender to get his troops as close to the enemy camp as possible, then launch a surprise attack.

What could be said?

The plan was naturally hasty, a complete gamble on a desperate assault. Under normal circumstances, only a fool would do such a thing. But as Kong Yanzhou said, the situation had reached a point where it couldn't get any worse, and this was precisely the time to take such a risk.

One could only say that regardless of Kong Yanzhou's character, his reputation as the "Little Yue Fei" was not unfounded. Not to mention anything else, though young, he had spent many years in the military like Yue Fei, and at least possessed the basic military competence.

Back to the present, with this thought, Liu Lin cautiously inquired: "Marshal, what are your specific plans?"

"I was just about to discuss this with you, Your Highness." Kong Yanzhou put down the half-eaten melon, wiped his mouth, and said boldly. "Yue Fei wants you. So, I'd like to ask Your Highness to enter my camp, pretending to be captured by me, to trick Yue Fei. Then, when we reach Yue Fei's camp, we'll strike together. If it succeeds, fine; if not, we'll each go our separate ways. How about it?"

"..."

"What do you say, Your Highness?" Kong Yanzhou urged, holding the melon.

"That's not a good idea." Liu Lin, coming to his senses, carefully held his melon in response. "Yue Fei has no fewer than thirty thousand troops, and we also have about thirty thousand. But once we break out, Zhang Rong behind us will surely pursue with his entire force. So we should go all out... But now, with thirty thousand troops, you have ten thousand, and I have twenty thousand. If I go to your camp, won't these twenty thousand Jinan troops be left idle?"

"That's true..." Marshal Kong seemed thoughtful. "Then what do you propose, Your Highness?"

"Just find someone to pretend to be me, tie them up, and fool Yue Fei. I'll stay behind with my twenty thousand Jinan troops to provide support." Liu Lin said earnestly. "When you, Marshal, strike from the front, I'll press forward with the full force of the Jinan army from behind! Maybe we can really escape!"

Kong Yanzhou immediately put down the melon and slapped the table: "Your Highness is indeed worthy of being the Crown Prince! How did you come up with such a brilliant plan? If that's the case, let's not delay—we'll break out today!"

With that, he grabbed his saber and left, decisive to the extreme.

Liu Lin stared blankly at the departing figure until he disappeared before snapping out of it... He had wanted to promise the land of Zizhou to win this man over, but hadn't had the chance to say it?

But now, there was truly no time to think about this and that. This Crown Prince of Great Qi, experienced in escaping, knew the importance of decisive action and immediately began his preparations.

By the afternoon, once the hottest part of the day had passed, Kong Yanzhou sent another envoy to Yue Fei, saying that he had tricked Liu Lin into his camp and captured him alive, but he couldn't control Liu Lin's twenty thousand Jinan troops. He only asked Grand Marshal Yue, for the sake of their hometown connection, to open the camp gate and let him in.

Then, he mobilized his troops, gathering four to five thousand of the men who had once defended Nanjing to form the vanguard, and told them that Yue Fei, because of Zhang Suo, intended to kill them all, so they must fight hard.

Immediately afterward, Kong Yanzhou himself led the vanguard, leaving a deputy general to command the rear, and headed straight for Yue Fei's camp to the northeast.

On the plain, after two days of probing, advancing, and retreating, the two sides were actually not far apart. So as soon as Kong Yanzhou's side moved, scouts from both Yue Fei's and Zhang Rong's forces spotted the situation from afar and went to report. Meanwhile, Liu Lin's camp also erupted into activity, with the twenty thousand men forming up in strict order, the left, right, and center columns advancing together, while a rear guard covered the back.

For a moment, under the scorching summer sun, these thirty thousand puppet Qi troops actually seemed to have a certain spirit of burning their boats.

As the sun further slanted westward and dark clouds gradually gathered, with Zhang Rong's entire force from Pingyin on the move, the narrow plain on the south bank of the Ji River increasingly took on the aspect of dark clouds pressing down, threatening to crush the city.

After all, no matter what, this was a battle of nearly seventy to eighty thousand troops, destined to be recorded in history. Not to mention others, even Yue Fei in the main camp was somewhat nervous, as this was the first time he had independently commanded a battle of this scale.

But as evening approached, after Zhang Rong's pursuing force made contact with the Qi army, things began to shift in a bizarre direction—Kong Yanzhou's vanguard, approaching Yue Fei's camp, grew more tense, more agitated, even more spirited; Liu Lin's main army in the middle remained orderly; Yue Fei's camp stayed quiet and composed. However, the rear guards of both Liu Lin and Kong Yanzhou, upon engaging Zhang Rong's pursuers, collapsed at the first contact, scattering in all directions.

Who was a fool? Didn't they know they were surrounded?

Didn't they know they had been abandoned as expendable?

The people of Jinan, Yanzhou, and Dongping Prefecture were all neighbors—was it wrong to beg for their lives?

However, the collapse of his own rear army and Kong Yanzhou's rear army on the far right flank at most threw Liu Lin, positioned in the center, into some panic, while Kong Yanzhou's forward army knew nothing of it.

Or rather, having arrived within two li of Yue Fei's camp, he no longer cared about those things, nor did he have time to care.

Since the second messenger he sent had not returned, Marshal Kong, resting here, had to dispatch a third fellow townsman from Xiangzhou as a messenger. The moment the messenger set out, he ordered the entire army to prepare, then personally rode his horse up a small hill. Pointing at Yue Fei's sprawling camp, stretching darkly for seven or eight li within sight yet still silent and unresponsive, he was about to deliver a pre-battle rally.

But before he could speak, a thunderclap exploded overhead, startling Marshal Kong and making his liver tremble for a moment.

Yet, being a figure of these chaotic times, he was only briefly stunned before bursting into great joy, then shouted with effort in the increasingly dense rain:

"See that? Old Kong here is a man favored by Heaven! Yue Fei fell for my plan and has no defenses prepared. Heaven itself sends rain at this moment, preventing him from assembling his troops... Heaven's will is with me! Follow Old Kong and charge! After today, I'll make the world know who is the number one hero of Xiangzhou!"

With that, he spurred his horse directly down the hill, leading several hundred of his most trusted armored cavalry straight toward Yue Fei's camp.

Rain began to fall heavily, but the clouds over the western horizon where the sun lay were extremely thin. Though it wasn't exactly half sunshine and half rain, the scene didn't quickly descend into darkness from the downpour. Instead, it cast a strange hue over the entire battlefield.

Turning his gaze forward, Kong Yanzhou rode at the front, several hundred armored personal guards close behind, and thousands of troops noisily following. In an instant they had covered a li, and the palisade of Yue Fei's camp was clearly visible. Yet Marshal Kong felt a pang of alert in his heart, because on some simple wooden watchtowers, archers and signalmen could be seen in the distance, but they were merely whispering among themselves, showing no signs of panic or confusion.

But there was no time to think further, for at that moment, a sudden change erupted.

Suddenly, a red banner rose in the camp directly ahead, followed by red banners rising in every camp for several li. Then, instead of the expected drumbeats, countless voices within the camp stretching seven or eight li shouted in unison.

This shout had been prepared in advance; though not perfectly uniform, driven by the banners it was close enough to be clearly distinguishable.

More importantly, tens of thousands of men shouting together was truly earth-shattering, like thunder, overpowering the rain. The sheer sound wave alone forcibly startled Kong Yanzhou and his forward army into losing their composure. They halted in their tracks, and the attack instantly stopped.

And Kong Yanzhou, being the closest, heard the sound most clearly. It was:

"Kill Kong! Kill Kong! Kill Kong!"

PS: Thank you all for your concern. I'll make up for last night's first... I must be a proper person this month no matter what.

And then, there's also...